I made sure to get into work early. I was there even before Carol. Computer fired up, headset on, posture prim and proper. I was in perfect working condition by the time Little Cut power walked past my cubicle. He put on the brakes and stepped into my cube. "Nora?"

"Good Morning." I drew the line at exclamation points. A tepid "Good Morning" would have to suffice.

"We missed you yesterday. I don't think I knew you were going to be out."

An irritating voice chimed in behind him. "You didn't. None of us did." Great timing, Carol. Thanks for the input, Carol. Go suck an egg, Carol.

"Just send a quick email if you can't make it in, okay?" And Little Cut ducked into his office. Well. That could have been worse. Carol looked like she wanted to wrap my headset around my neck and give it a good tight squeeze. I batted my eyes at her and took my first call of the day.

To say I was distracted all day was an understatement. I couldn't get Shadow #1 off my mind. Why did she come? I had a hard time believing it was because I "wasn't myself" or whatever bull she said, but then what? And when was the next shadow coming? Did I want the next shadow to come? I thought so, if only to confirm the first one had also come and wasn't a figment of my imagination or because I'd fallen and hit my head or something. Why why why hadn't I thought to ask Shadow when the next shadow would show up? Could I schedule them like a dentist appointment? Like, "do you have a shadow available the morning of October 21st?"

"Nora. Your phone." Thanks, Carol. I stabbed at my button and tried to focus on the order for eight dining room chairs.

*

My plan was to work through lunch, but by 11:30 my stomach demanded more than the yogurt I'd brought. "I'm taking lunch," I yelled over the partition. No answer. I peeked over. "Carol? I'm taking lunch." She waved a hand dismissively.

Thankfully, the man from yesterday wasn't outside asking for money again. I walked into a deli and saw Little Cut. Shoot. He raised his hand in a wave, so I couldn't leave now. He moved up to the counter and spoke with the boy behind the counter, then looked around the deli. "Nora!" he called. I raised my hand like he was my first grade teacher taking attendance. He motioned me up to the counter. I ducked past the long line in front of me. "It's buy one get one free today. What are you getting?" Little Cut was a thrifty shopper? That was weird. Not as weird as a dark smoky being visiting me, but weird.

"Um, I'll have the California Club, please." I reached into my purse, "Here, I'll get half." Little Cut waved me off in a much more polite way than Carol had. We shuffled down to the waiting area while they made our sandwiches.

"So. Happy Friday." This guy. He was so socially awkward in his wingtip shoes and tailored suit. With his super straight teeth and whispery soft voice.

"Yeah. Happy Friday."

"Plans for the weekend?"

Um, waiting for a supernatural shadow to visit me? "Just this and that. You?"

He looked at me, moved his mouth in one direction then said something in the opposite direction. "No." He wasn't particularly chatty, but better talk too little than too much. Our order came up just as something occurred to me. Little Cut handed me half a sub and scanned the inside of the deli. "Um, I was just going to eat at my desk, so..."

So, I hope you didn't expect me to eat with you is how he wanted to finish that sentence. Awfully presumptuous. I stuffed the comment I was prepared to make back down my throat. "Oh, right. I'll be right behind you. Thanks for this." I lifted my food up.

"Sure. Enjoy."

I sat under a bulletin board at the only free table I could find. A girl came over and asked if she could take my extra chair. "All yours." She gave me a thumbs up and it reminded me a little of Gwen. I wondered what she would say about Shadow #1. If she still lived here I would have already told her about my bizarre experience. The thought of telling her over the phone didn't appeal to me at all. I imagined her telling her new friends about it while they sat on surfboards watching the sunrise, a silhouetted pod of dolphins leaping in the distance. They'd laugh so hard they'd fall off their boards. And get attacked by sharks, for all I cared.

No, I couldn't tell anybody about the shadows. Abby would worry about my mental stability more than she already did. Eric would think I was tripping on something. Mom wasn't around to tell. Dad wasn't an option either. Carol? Obviously not. Little Cut? Even more obviously not. Though he seemed like a good listener, one does not tell her Richie Rich boss about her otherworldly experiences. Knowing him, he'd pull out information on the company's mental healthcare coverage.

My sandwich was gone, but I didn't want to go back to the office yet. Above me, dozens of business cards, flyers, and ads were pinned up. It reminded me of the little piece of paper I'd seen in Little Cut's office the other day. I wondered if I should say something to him about it. It was none of my business, but still.

I continued looking at the bulletin board as I considered how I might bring it up to him. Every time the door opened, the breeze pushed them awake and they sat up, like schoolchildren raising their hands, certain they had the right answer. I watched one shimmy in the breeze. It was advertising guitar lessons. Tiny slits of paper with a phone number were ripped off. Only two remained like a jack-o-lantern smile. "David O'Shea: (517) 555-3409." David. When did he start teaching lessons? I sure hope all his students had hair he approved of. I shoved my chair back a little more violently than I meant to. The couple behind me gave me a dirty look, which I returned. I hadn't even bumped them. People are the worst.

The timer on my watch informed me I still had fifteen minutes before I had to be back. It was unusually warm for October, so I walked down the road. There was some hullaballoo around the corner, a bunch of people gathered around some tables. I decided to investigate. A girl I imagined was a lot like a humanized Shadow #1 bounced up to me. "Hi! Are you interested in giving a dog or cat it's FURever home?" I saw the cages now, under the tables. A cat peeked out and made eye contact with me. Oh no. "No! No, thank you. I can't even keep-"

She held up a hand and laughed. "Let me guess, you can't even keep a houseplant alive." Annoying. "That's what everyone says," she giggled.

"Well, I really can't." I wished that cat would stop staring at my soul.

"I understand. It's a big responsibility." Is it? I thought sarcastically. This girl didn't look like she knew the first thing about responsibility. Maybe her mom made her keep her room clean and her grades up. She was most definitely here so she had some community service hours to put on a college application. "Do you want to hold her?" The cat and I were still locked in an epic staring contest.

"No, thanks." The cat put her paw on the cage door. Good grief. "Absolutely not!" I bent down and told her firmly. "Trust me, cat. You don't want anything to do with me."

"Aw! She likes you!" If she had added claps and spirit fingers to her words, I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.

My timer went off. Thank goodness. "Well, thanks," I said, more to the cat than the girl, but she responded, "We're here every Friday this month! You should definitely stop by!"

Doubtful. "Bye!" I coked her chipper tone, but she just sang back, "Byeeee!"

Back in the office (on time, I might add) Little Cut stopped at my cubicle. "You weren't right behind me, after all." What the heck? I was back on time! I shouted inwardly.

"There was a pet adoption thing around the corner. I stopped over there."

He smiled the widest smile I'd ever seen from him. It almost knocked me out of my chair it was so blindingly strong. "My sister is volunteering down there today. Did you see a little blonde girl? Super smiley? A little pushy?" Even as he described her every annoying habit, he was clearly enamored with her. Some people might think it was sweet.

"Yup. I think I know exactly who you're talking about."

"Did she talk you into getting a pet?"

"Nope, I stood my ground."

"You're tougher than I. Look." He pulled his pocket out of his phone and held it up to me. "Mario," he explained. His screensaver was an extreme close-up of a scruffy white dog. He had a friendly face, but may have been the ugliest dog I'd ever seen. At first I thought he desperately needed to be groomed, but upon further examination, I thought maybe he'd been overgroomed. It was hard to tell, but I sure didn't want to look at the picture anymore. "He's why I'm constantly covered in dog hair." As he spoke, he brushed his pants and sure enough, a cloud of white fur burst off him and into my cube. Thanks.

"He's cute."

Little Cut snorted, "No, he's not! He's the ugliest dog I've ever seen!" Mercifully he stuck his phone back in his pocket, laughing. Even I couldn't help but smile, I love when people are self-deprecating, and apparently when it spills over into their pet ownership as well.

"Ohmygosh, he's so ugly! But it's just what you say when someone shows you pictures of their dog. Same for kids." Although, let's be honest, Little Cut was never going to have ugly kids.

He chuckled again. "My point is, look out for Marnie. She's good. If you're not careful you'll wind up with the world's ugliest dog."

I don't know what came over me then. If it was because he bought my lunch, or showed me his ugly dog, or because I wanted to stall getting back to work, but I decided to tell Little Cut something that had been on my mind since I was in his office Wednesday. It occurred to me I'd never actually called him by his name, and now didn't seem the time to start, so I just launched into it. "Hey, I noticed a- a- business card on your desk the other day?" It was also occurring to me at this point that I sounded incredibly nosy and every surrounding cubicle could hear us. Little Cut's eyes widened. He gave me a super innocent look that I'm sure worked wonders on his parents when he crashed the Mercedes or took the yacht out for a joyride.

"You mean, for the-" here he motioned to his bicep, then mouthed "tattoo." I nodded. "Okaaaaay."

I dropped my voice and hoped everyone was busy on their phones. Carol was certainly listening in if she could. "It's none of my business, but I wouldn't go there if I were you."

"No?"

"No. I have a friend (it was David) who had a bad experience there. He had some work done, but it got really infected." Little Cut didn't say anything. "Like. Oozing and stuff." I couldn't believe I just said "oozing" to my boss. "Then when that finally cleared up it also just wasn't good work. So." I put my hands up. "Again, not my business. I just wanted to give you fair warning. If you were, whatever. Thinking about going there."

"I see. I appreciate that. Thank you." His eyesdarted around like he expected his dad to suddenly pop out of a filing cabinetand bust him for considering a tattoo. Even though I hadn't met his dad oncesince I started working here. "Well, better get back to it. Thanks again." Thatwas my queue to put my headset back on. I rubbed my own tattoo, I kept out ofsight of the world. There. I did my part. He could listen to me or not. Noskin off my back.